Your college years are the perfect time to do many things, especially travel. Traveling, though, is often overlooked by many students as a possibility. It’s seen as something we can all do later, when we go on our honeymoons, when we get “big kid jobs,” when we retire. But why wait? Here are five reasons you should take this time to put a few stamps in your passport or pins in your U.S. map.
1. It will probably never be more affordable.
If your school is anything like mine, it provides countless opportunities to go on trips and will most likely even provide corresponding fundraising opportunities to lighten the financial burden. Study abroad is the most obvious option and an outstanding one at that. Semester-long, year-long and summer-long programs are typically offered by study abroad programs. You could also go on a school-sponsored mission trip to a place you have always wanted to go, like the Grand Canyon or an island in the Caribbean. While you may be doing a lot of work, you’ll learn invaluable lessons and be able to take in unbelievably beautiful sights. Another alternative is to go on a trip with a club or organization you are a part of. Some of these clubs may have national conferences with other counterparts from around the country and even the globe.
2. You’re probably the most free now that you’ll ever be.
Chances are, you’re not yet tied down by a spouse or children. Therefore, right now is the perfect opportunity to go, see and do. There is plenty of time to settle down and even to travel with your family and make memories later in life, but now is the ideal window to do some self-exploration and reflection through traveling.
3. You will learn more outside the classroom than in it.
This one doesn’t need much explanation. The classroom provides practical knowledge that is extremely useful and will be applicable in many settings in your future. However, there are some lessons you can only learn outside the classroom and outside of your hometown or your campus. Which leads me to…
4. Exposing yourself to other ways of life.
Whether you’re a Northerner headed to the Deep South or a Southerner headed to the West, acquainting yourself with another culture or subculture spurs growth. Learning what you like and dislike as far as food, activities and arts can usually only come from stepping outside what you’re used to and trying new things, things that may scare you just a little. So what if my shrimp in Austin, Texas still had eyeballs? By eating them (after taking off the heads and tails, of course), I discovered that shrimp and grits is now one of my favorite meals. You pick up different techniques and styles as you travel, and everywhere you go becomes a part of you in some small way.
5. Stepping outside your comfort zone makes you uncomfortable
…but then your comfort zone is that much bigger. I’ll be the first to admit: I am a Northern girl through and through. So while I do love shrimp and grits and can appreciate the sweetness of a Southern accent, I don’t necessarily feel my most comfortable while in the southern United States. However, I grew so much by visiting two Southern cities in less than six months, and I now feel I can hold my own better in that region and so many others thanks to the friends I made while there and the customs and history I learned.
St. Augustine once wrote, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” Don’t stay on the same page in your book. Turn the page; travel. The world is yours for the exploring!
